News

May 31, 2016

‘Above-average’ National Postage Stamp & Coin Show provides ‘one of the busiest Sundays we’ve seen in a long time’

Les and Trixie Garvey of Garvey & Sons had an ‘above average’ weekend of sales and leads at the inaugural National Postage Stamp and Coin Show held May 13-15, 2016 at Mississauga’s International Centre.

By Jesse Robitaille

Expectations were exceeded when the hobbies of coin and stamp collecting joined forces in the Greater Toronto Area for Trajan Media’s three-day National Postage Stamp and Coin Show.

Les Garvey, owner of Edmonton’s Garvey & Sons, said he enjoyed an “above-average” weekend, adding the final day, May 15, was “one of the busiest Sundays we’ve seen in a long time.”

“Our sales were very good. We saw a lot of new collectors and made a lot of new customers, and we come here often, too,” said Garvey, who added he makes the nearly 3,500-kilometre trip east to Toronto four times each year. “Having more customers is always better for business, and with a lot of new people on our mailing list, it makes things much better. It’s always good to meet new collectors.”

“People came here with a purpose,” said Isaacs. “There were a lot of buyers, and of modern Canadian, which is good because we packed it.”

The show, held May 13-15 at Mississauga, Ont.’s International Centre, saw hundreds of attendees each day and offered a “smorgasbord” of interesting numismatic and philatelic material, said Mike Walsh, managing partner of Trajan Media, which publishes Canadian Coin News (CCN) and Canadian Stamp News (CSN).

In addition to the vast bourse, which held about 30 dealers from across Canada and abroad, there was a high-quality exhibition hosted by the North Toronto Stamp Club (NTSC).

“Both of these fields – and I’ve done a bit of coin collecting, too – are history in your hands,” said NTSC President John Wilson.

Ted Bailey, owner of Ted’s Collectables, of Paris, Ont., said it was an exciting weekend on the bourse.

“I spent as much as I made,” he said, adding he bought a “nice collection” that included a 1921 five-cent as well as a 1948 silver dollar, the latter of which could be worth as much as $5,500, depending on its grade. “I’d be very happy if it is.”

Isidore “Issie” Baum, owner of Montreal’s Wonderful World of Stamps, said it was a “very good weekend” in Mississauga, although he added there was some downtime when the show wasn’t overly busy.

“Nothing is like it used to be, but I remember as early as 10 years ago we were able to attract more people,” said Baum, “but I went through one, two, three – seven boxes here, but that’s because I had some really good collections.”

To complement these “good collections,” there were also a number of serious buyers looking to expand their collections.

“I felt there was a good core of serious buyers,” said Robert Cooperman, founder of Montreal’s City Stamp, adding it was a “fair, fine weekend.”

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